The Interview Alchemist

An AI-powered interview preparation platform that generates role-specific questions, tracks your progress, and helps you master concepts — built on Google Gemini.

✨ Features • 🚀 Quick Start • ⚙️ Configuration • 📁 Project Structure • 🤝 Contributing

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About

The Interview Alchemist transforms your interview preparation with Google Gemini AI. Specify a target role and experience level, get a tailored set of Q&A pairs, pin the questions that matter most, and deep-dive into any concept with AI-generated explanations — all in one place.

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Features

Feature	Description
🎯 Role-Specific Sessions	Generate 10 targeted interview questions based on your role, experience, and chosen topics
📌 Pin & Bookmark	Bookmark key questions to build a personal revision list
🧠 AI Explanations	Click "Learn More" on any question for a concept-level deep dive powered by Gemini
📊 Progress Dashboard	Track total sessions, Q&A count, and pinned questions at a glance
🔍 Search & Filter	Quickly find sessions by role, topic, or description
🔐 Secure Auth	JWT in httpOnly cookies with CSRF double-submit protection

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React 19, React Router 7, Tailwind CSS 4, Framer Motion
Backend	Node.js, Express 5, Mongoose
Database	MongoDB Atlas
AI	Google Gemini (gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview) via @google/generative-ai
Auth	JWT (httpOnly cookie) + CSRF tokens

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Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• A free MongoDB Atlas account
• A Google AI Studio API key

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/pratstick/The-Interview-Alchemist.git
cd The-Interview-Alchemist

2. Install dependencies

# Backend
cd backend && npm install

# Frontend (from the repo root)
cd ../frontend/the-interview-alchemist && npm install

3. Configure environment variables

Copy the example file and fill in your values:

cp .env.example backend/.env

Open backend/.env and set the variables (see Configuration below).

4. Run the servers

Open two terminals:

# Terminal 1 — backend (from /backend)
npm run dev

# Terminal 2 — frontend (from /frontend/the-interview-alchemist)
npm run dev

Frontend: http://localhost:5173 | Backend: http://localhost:8000

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Configuration

Create a backend/.env file with the following keys:

Variable	Required	Description
MONGO_URI	✅	MongoDB Atlas connection string (see below)
GOOGLE_API_KEY	✅	Google Gemini API key from AI Studio
JWT_SECRET	✅	A long random string used to sign JWTs
PORT	❌	Server port (default: 8000)
ALLOWED_ORIGIN	❌	CORS origin for the frontend (default: http://localhost:5173)

Getting a MongoDB Atlas URI

1. Sign up at mongodb.com/atlas and create a free M0 cluster.
2. In the cluster overview, click Connect → Drivers and copy the connection string. It looks like:

   mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@<cluster>.mongodb.net/<dbname>?retryWrites=true&w=majority
   

3. Replace <username>, <password>, and <dbname> with your credentials.
4. Under Security → Network Access, add your current IP address (or 0.0.0.0/0 for local development).

Troubleshooting — if you see querySrv ENOTFOUND, the three most common causes are:

• The cluster hostname in the URI is incorrect. Re-copy it from the Atlas dashboard.
• Your IP is not whitelisted in Network Access.
• A firewall or VPN is blocking outbound connections on port 27017.

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Project Structure

The-Interview-Alchemist/
├── backend/
│   ├── config/
│   │   └── db.js               # MongoDB connection with diagnostic errors
│   ├── controllers/
│   │   ├── authController.js   # Register / login / logout
│   │   ├── sessionController.js
│   │   ├── questionController.js
│   │   └── aiController.js     # Gemini integration
│   ├── middlewares/
│   │   ├── authMiddleware.js   # JWT verification
│   │   └── uploadMiddleware.js # Multer file uploads
│   ├── models/                 # Mongoose schemas (User, Session, Question)
│   ├── routes/                 # Express routers
│   ├── utils/
│   │   └── prompts.js          # Gemini prompt templates
│   └── server.js               # App entry point
│
└── frontend/the-interview-alchemist/
    └── src/
        ├── pages/
        │   ├── LandingPage.jsx
        │   ├── Auth/           # Login & SignUp
        │   ├── Home/           # Dashboard & CreateSessionForm
        │   └── InterviewPrep/ # Interview session view
        ├── components/
        │   ├── Cards/          # SummaryCard, QuestionCard, ProfileInfoCard
        │   ├── layouts/        # Navbar, DashboardLayout
        │   ├── Inputs/         # Input, ProfilePhotoSelector
        │   └── loader/         # SpinnerLoader, SkeletonLoader
        ├── context/
        │   └── UserContext.jsx
        └── utils/
            ├── axiosInstance.js # Axios with CSRF header injection
            ├── apiPaths.js
            ├── data.js          # Static data (features, card colours)
            └── helper.js

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API Overview

All endpoints are prefixed with /api.

Method	Path	Auth	Description
POST	/auth/register	—	Create a new account
POST	/auth/login	—	Login and receive a JWT cookie
POST	/auth/logout	✅	Clear the session cookie
GET	/sessions	✅	List all sessions for the current user
POST	/sessions	✅	Create a new session
GET	/sessions/:id	✅	Get a session with its questions
DELETE	/sessions/:id	✅	Delete a session
PUT	/questions/:id/pin	✅	Toggle pin on a question
POST	/ai/generate-questions	✅	Generate interview Q&A via Gemini
POST	/ai/generate-explanation	✅	Get a concept explanation via Gemini

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue first to discuss significant changes.

Areas where help is especially appreciated:

• 📱 Mobile responsiveness — some layouts still need polish on small screens
• 🧪 Tests — unit tests for backend controllers, component tests for the frontend
• 🎨 UI/UX improvements — animations, accessibility, dark mode
• 💬 Better prompts — more accurate or detailed Gemini prompt engineering
• 🌐 Internationalisation — support for non-English users

# After making changes, lint and build to check for issues
cd frontend/the-interview-alchemist && npm run lint && npm run build
node --check backend/server.js

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License

GPL-3.0 — see the LICENSE file for full details.

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Built during my own interview prep journey. Hope it helps with yours too! ✨